ShareKiller Cuisine
Few restaurants would call attention to this kind of ambiance: brick walls crumbling, lights flickering, dead bodies turning up. But there’s method to the madness of owner and chef John Caiola.
“Halloween is my Christmas,” he says. In fact, Caiola became famous in his Mount Laurel neighborhood for constructing an elaborate haunted house every year. So when twenty years in the culinary business left him looking for a new challenge, he found a way to indulge his love of cooking and his fright-night obsession.
The result is “What’s for Dinner…It’s a Mystery”—dining with a built-in whodunit. Instead of hiring a theater troupe, Caiola decided to have guests play the suspects, though the role of the deceased goes to a mannequin. Operating at first as a caterer, Caiola would send the guests invitations with clues, bios, and wardrobe suggestions. Now, hosts choose a theme, like “Murder by Death” or “Agatha Christie,” and Caiola plays a sarcastic detective while guests improvise their roles. “Essentially what I do is a three-hour standup comedy routine,” he says.
Starting out, Caiola catered parties only at clients’ homes. But as the events got more complex—invitations to the “Von Boyle” mystery, for example, come in miniature caskets—he opened a Cherry Hill facility to provide an on-site option. There, the decor changes nightly; sometimes a haunted castle, sometimes a cruise ship or a gymnasium. Menus are simple—family-style penne, salmon, and chicken, starting at $30.95 per guest.
Ciaola has been pleasantly surprised by his guests’ outrageous performances. “People’s imaginations are wild,” he says.
The job is a welcome change for Caiola, who doesn’t miss working twenty-hour days at five-star hotels and country club kitchens. “I’m lucky—I like my job,” he says. “And now I like cooking again.”
